We are a single income, Canadian family of multi-cultural background with 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs. This blog is about chihuahua, food, my wife's cooking, family activities, kids' toys and world cultures. Specifically, I will focus on Japanese food, Japanese / Taiwanese culture, shopping and Living in Canada and the USA. Please have a look and share with your friends!

It is finally getting warmer in end of March and cherry trees (sakura) are finally blossoming.
We took this picture near by our place around North Burnaby.
I am assuming that mass blossoming will occur in Vancouver soon.

When it is really warm, they can blossom in early February just like in 2010 during the Olympics.

Usually, they blossom in early or mid-March during the Spring Break in British Columbia.
Cherry tree fields are beautiful.

In Japan, you will see mountains of sakura in the suburbs or along the river banks.

In big cities, you will see acres and acres of sakura blossoms in the parks.
For example, Ueno park in Tokyo.

Beard Papa is a popular Japanese Patisserie (Doughnut and sweets shop) that also opened stores in BC, Canada. They sell good eclair and cream puffs and other french sweets.

Recently, new menu items had come out: Paris-Brest.
It is a kind of French doughnut if I want to describe it but it is more sophisticated than that.
It has a layer of cream inside and should be served cold just like e'clair.

I tried it and I loved it!! It is not too sweet like the North American sweet donuts.
The combination of the chocolate layer outside with the cream inside is perfect.
It is supposed to be an cold dessert, so it was just so good and chilly.
I would buy them anytime! The eclair and puffs are of course top notch as well.

Why don`t they have these in Tim Horton's??????
Maybe it is too hard to mass produce.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

For the people who read this blog, if possible, please lend a hand and donate to Japanese disaster relief.

It would be great if you can donate to the local Red Cross Organization of your country.
It would be very helpful to the people because they don't have enough water, fuel, food, blankets, electricity, etc.

Sushi Mart is a new restaurant opened by the same owner as Fuji Sushi in Coquitlam, BC.

They have a good concept to lure customers in that you can order and eat in but it is self serve.
Which mean:
1) The server brings the food for you but that is it.
2) You pour your own tea but I find that super easy.

Therefore, you don't need to tip, saving you 10 to 15 percent!

Here I ordered standard lunch sushi rolls with salmon, tuna and sushi (well, standard north american stuff).
Also, I ordered the Uni Nigiri Sushi. Now, this was good but cost 2.75.
The taste over all is great and the cost for the lunch set is around 6 dollars....very reasonable in downtown.

I think I prefer the original store in Coquitlam, BC though. It is just too good with great value.

The store front will feature two brilliantly designed cute posters, picturing a cute model posing in a Hello Kitty themed outfit:

The advertising and the design of the products certainly made this line very enticing.
Great marketing...gotta give it to Sephora.
(Actually, MAC had a Hello Kitty Line 4 years ago as well with great poster and products but did not continue the line for very long.)

I am sure this attracted people, making them stepping into the Sephora stores.

picture of Sephora Hello Kitty shelf

It features eyeliners, lipsticks, lip gloss, brushes, brush set in a Hello Kitty, mirrors, decorated mirrors, etc.
The brush set is cute but a little overpriced considering the silver Hello Kitty is plastic.
The mirrors are good but also expensive.
They also have pouches, shower cap, nail polish....you name it.
It was more comprehensive than the MAC line and I was surprised.
They also had a Tokidoki cosmetic line! Great collaboration selections!

The US pricing is still a lot lower than the Canadian pricing in Sephora, which is unfair and surprised me.

I certainly hope that they play fair and drop the prices in the future.

I did decide to buy my wife several items, including a Sephora brush set and Hello Kitty products (and they gave us some small gifts and samples).

Couple of years ago, Safety 1st introduced a new type of car seat for infants called, "Air".

It encompasses the side impact technology and has side cushions for car seats and booster seat.

I guess during the winter season, the retailers want to clear out the older models, so they are having sales.
We have always wanted them, so we bought two stages of car seats for my kids.

We have always wanted the new type of car seat.
Toys R Us and Zellers had sales in the past few weekends, so the chance was perfect to scoop them up.
We bought 1 for Stage 2 (9 to 18 kg) and 1 for Stage 3 (18kg to 9 year old).

It is more likely that I might need one more for my younger son when he gets older...

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

This blog to us is like a diary with pictures and words stored digitally online.

However, just like digital pictures, I would like to print things out.
Tangible things, to me, are easier to read and are great memorabilia.

Last month, I ordered a book from Sharebook. (Once you upload your blog content, they make it and arrange it into a book for you.)

It took a month to ship it to Canada and it is not cheap depending on how you value your "diary".

You can customize the front cover and back cover and side messages.
You can also decide on the content layout and the size and thickness of the book.

My came with just less than 300 pages because last year I blogged the most in the first months.
(When the Olympics were here)
Because we got very busy with family matters later on in 2010, my blog number went down.

Regardless, I liked the end product, the quality and the layout of the whole book.
It preserves memories that we don't want to forget.